1 5Th Grade: Informational Writing Lesson Title: Alexander Graham
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1 5th Grade: Informational Writing Lesson Title: Alexander Graham Bell’s Impact on America Focus: Collecting facts and details to support informational writing Standard(s): ELAGSE5W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. a. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic. c. Link ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially). d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. Supporting standard in social studies: SS5H1 Describe how life changed in America at the turn of the century. b. Describe the impact on American life of the Wright brothers (flight), George Washington Carver (science), Alexander Graham Bell (communication), and Thomas Edison (electricity). Target: I can organize my information and use transition words as I write about a topic. Part 1: Lesson Introduction (5 minutes) Introduce the lesson by showing the students a short video clip about Alexander Graham Bell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsRt5lBdBfE At the conclusion of the video, tell the students that they are going to be exploring how American was impacted at the turn of the 20th century by Alexander Graham Bell. They will be reading some articles and writing an informational paper. Part 2: Mini-lesson/Teacher modeling (10 minutes) Share with the students the following graphic organizer. (Free from curriculum corner/ A larger copy is on page 4 of the lesson.) 5th grade Writing Lesson #2 Informational Writing 2 Using the following website link, explore and record facts about Alexander Graham Bell. Write facts onto the graphic organizer and show the students where you found your information. (http://www.ducksters.com/biography/alexander_graham_bell.php) Part 3: Guided practice (10 minutes) During guided practice, provide the students with the two articles on pages 5-7 of this lesson. Briefly review the information in each article and ask the students if they can use any information here to go into their informational paper about how Alexander Graham Bell’s inventions changed life at the turn of the century. Have a discussion about what the articles contain, and give the students time to read the articles and take notes using their graphic organizers. Part 4: Independent work time (20 minutes) Students will write an informational paper about how Alexander Graham Bell impacted life in America at the turn of the century (1900). Students should use facts and details from the articles and should use transitions and linking words to show connections and progressions in their writing. Power Lesson 3 for 5th grade has information on using transitions. Provide another copy if necessary of the list of transition words from that lesson. A copy is attached on page 8 of this lesson. It is important to note that this writing assignment may take several different periods of time. It is not expected that the students should complete the paper during this 20-minute time segment. Use your district’s expectations about daily writing and your schedule to make this lesson serve your needs. Part 5: Review Assessment (10 minutes) Review & Closing (5 minutes) Using a district, state, or teacher-created After the papers have been completed, you rubric, assess your student’s writing noting may want to explore several by having the the elements from the standard. While the students read their writings orally to the paper explores Alexander Graham Bell’s class. contributions to making an impact in America, it is important to note that this is just a curriculum connection. Assess the papers paying close attention to organization, the points presented, and the structure of the writing. Part 6: Extensions Enrichment Support Provide other topics to challenge students For struggling students, much structure who have shown mastery on the writing for needs to be provided. Begin by showing the the 5th grade writing standards. Allow them students what the topic is. Next, to research other topics of interest and video demonstrate the ideas that will be written 5th grade Writing Lesson #2 Informational Writing 3 themselves as if they are news reporters. about the topic and show the students how When time permits and at appropriate each idea becomes a topic sentence for a opportunities, share the videos with the new paragraph. Within the paragraph, show class. them how they must demonstrate this idea with supporting details. Prescriptive writing is not where you want to leave your students; however, when students struggle, it is perfectly ok to give them a firm plan. A good rule is to tell them that a topic sentence must be followed by at least one reason and that each reason must be followed by an example. This type of structure can help in small ways. After working on this method, show students how their writing creates an informational paper on whatever the topic is. 5th grade Writing Lesson #2 Informational Writing 4 5th grade Writing Lesson #2 Informational Writing 5 Article #1 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL AND THE HISTORY OF THE TELEPHONE Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. He had two brothers, but both passed away from tuberculosis by the time Bell was 20 years old. When he was born, his given name was just Alexander Bell. Both of his brothers had middle names, and Alexander pleaded with his father for a middle name as well. When Bell was 11 years old, his father allowed him to take the middle name of Graham, which was the last name of a family friend. Bell's mother was deaf, and his father and grandfather were famous in England for their work in a field of speech development called elocution. This inspired Bell to study speech and communication as well. At 12 years old, Bell invented a de-husking machine for his friend's family grain mill. The machine Bell built was used by that family for many years. It was Bell's first in a very long line of practical and famous inventions. In 1867, Bell and his family moved to London so that he and his remaining brother could study at better schools. Prior to moving to London, Bell had been experimenting with using electrical current to send sounds from one place to another. He set up a telegraph wire from his Somerset College room to the room of a friend in a different building. Later that year, Bell's second brother passed away. The family mourned, but Bell and his father were in the middle of a tour of English colleges doing demonstrations on speech innovations, including sign language and advanced lip-reading techniques. Bell and his father had created a laboratory where they were conducting their experiments, and they had several techniques that were getting the attention of speech experts from all over the country. In 1870, Bell was working himself to the point of exhaustion. His parents did not want to lose their remaining son, so they decided to sell all of the family's belongings in the United Kingdom and move to Canada. After stopping in the province of Quebec, the Bells settled in Paris, Ontario. Alexander Graham Bell immediately put together a new laboratory and continued his experiments. One of Bell's first accomplishments in Canada was to put the unwritten language of the Mohawk tribe into a format that could be written and reproduced. The Mohawk tribe honored Bell for his accomplishments, and his achievement made him famous in North America. Bell became a professor in elocution at Boston University and decided to split his time between his Ontario home and Boston. By 1873, Bell's working habits and travel schedule had a serious effect on his health. He decided to stay in Boston and advance the work he had started in London on transmitting sound using an electrical current. By the time he decided to focus on what was referred to as the acoustic telegraph, Bell was forced to give up lecturing and settle into a more relaxing routine. Bell did not want to stop teaching and traveling, but his health forced him to stop. 5th grade Writing Lesson #2 Informational Writing 6 In 1876, Bell had advanced his work to the point where he was able to transmit sounds using a method that involved a needle vibrating in water, which caused the electrical current to change. The change in current was what transmitted the sound. It was this water-based device that Bell used to utter the words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you" to his assistant, Thomas Watson, who was listening in another room on another of the same device. Bell was awarded his patent for the telephone on March 7, 1876. An inventor named Elisha Gray had filed an intent to get a patent for a very similar invention on February 14, 1876: The U.S. Patent Office's decision to award the patent to Bell remains a point of contention among historians and members of the Gray family to this day. In August 1876, Bell was able to conduct a demonstration of his telephone by using two telegraph offices that were five miles apart. Using only the existing telegraph lines, Bell was able to conduct the world's first phone call in front of an audience of amazed onlookers. Later that year, Bell and his financial backers offered to sell the patent for the telephone to Western Union, but Western Union dismissed the telephone as a useless toy that would never amount to anything.